COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College women's lacrosse team took a lead early in overtime before falling to Bentley University, 10-9, on Tuesday during its home opener at Duffy Field. The Purple Knights suffered their first loss in slipping to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the Northeast-10 Conference, nearly downing the Falcons for the first time since 2008. Bentley, which received national votes as recently as last week, moved to 2-5 and 1-2.

Junior Kate Boyer (Standish, Maine/Bonny Eagle) became the fourth different Purple Knight to score four goals in a game this season, while senior Crystal King (South Burlington, Vt./South Burlington) had one goal and three assists, as her team opened a three-game homestand. Classmate Claire Martin (Mattapoisett, Mass./Bishop Stang) scored twice, while classmate Shannon Murphy (Boxboro, Mass./Acton-Boxboro Regional/UMass) and first-year Ali Gosselin (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) both tallied once, with Gosselin adding three ground balls, three caused turnovers and two draw controls. Sophomore Steph Bonewald (New London, N.H./Proctor Academy) had five ground balls and three caused turnovers, while classmate Casey Curtin (Waltham, Mass./Ursuline Academy) posted five saves.

Early in overtime, the Falcons knocked away a Saint Michael's pass, and the teams fought for the loose ball in front of the Bentley net before King collected and sent a point-blank shot home at the 4:37 mark. However, Kynoch produced a 9-9 contest with a free-position goal at 2:38, and Brown forced a turnover following the draw and netted the winning one-timer off of Bastien's pass with 2:03 to go. Bonewald won the ensuing draw, but a Saint Michael's shot rung off the crossbar with 1:29 remaining, and Bentley gained possession before running out the clock.

Bastien assisted a pair of goals in the opening 5:40 of the game to put her team ahead 2-0 before Boyer tallied twice in 4:16, bringing Saint Michael's within 3-2 with 19:22 left in the first half. Martin then scored a pair 3:53 apart to cap a 4-1 run that gave the Purple Knights a 4-3 edge at 9:06. Bastien knotted the game 1:08 later, and the teams were tied at the half.

Murphy took King's feed to make it 5-4 1:17 into the second half, but Bentley scored three straight goals while blanking the Purple Knights for more than 19 minutes. Bastien knotted the game on a free-position shot at 26:35, assisted Kynoch's go-ahead tally at 25:06 and dished off on a Brown goal with 16:02 to go, making it 7-5.

In a matter of 46 seconds Saint Michael's forged another tie, with King finding Gosselin at 9:35 and Boyer converting junior Courtney Piper's (Wolfeboro, N.H./Brewster Academy) pass with 8:49 remaining in regulation. At the 4:41 mark, Boyer put Saint Michael's in front, but Bastien sent the game to overtime with the equalizer with 9.6 seconds left.